So this is one of my favourite times of year - when some of the brightest and best talent in the Native film industry strut their awesomeness at one of Canada’s largest Aboriginal film festivals, imagineNATIVE:

“The creative voices of Aboriginal women will be among those heard loudly and clearly at the 9th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, which runs in Toronto from Wednesday, October 15th until Sunday, October 19th, 2008. imagineNATIVE is pleased to announce and welcome their presenting sponsor CTVglobemedia.

The festival, which annually spotlights Aboriginal filmmakers and media artists from across the Indigenous spectrum, is proud to feature this year’s “Indian Jane” marketing campaign, its latest trenchant and clever parody of mainstream Hollywood imagemaking. And the showcase of more than 100 works by Indigenous people at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media, will lead with the women’s side of the story of Indigenous survival and evolution of identity.”

Be sure to also check out the amazing Youth Activities and Youth Program on October 16th!

Be there…or be square! But we’ll still love you if you’re square =)

Did you know that over 90,000 students in Toronto go to school hungry?

Or that one in three children live in poverty?

How about the fact that 41% of Toronto school children start school each day without breakfast?

The Toronto Foundation for Student Success feeds many of these students in schools and community programs through various breakfast, lunch and snack programs. Over 1200 volunteers assist to administer and facilitate these programs, but there is so much more that needs to be done.

This week, October 6th to 8th, has been declared the “Feeding Hungry Toronto Students Week” and the aim is to promote awareness of the missing link between nutrition and learning, and to increase support for child nutrition programs in our communities and neighbourhoods in Toronto.

A series of events are taking place across schools and across the city this week, and your participation and involvement is definitely needed!

Wow.

That’s all I have to say about a youth friend of mine from a community I work with in northwestern British Columbia. Sonya Tamara May Patrick, 16, from Burns Lake, along with 5 other young people, won a contest the Carrier First Nation of Lake Babine hosted for their youth to write about what their language, neduten, means to them and the entire nation.

The prize? Attending the World Indigenous People’s Conference on Education in Australia! And to top off that life-changing opportunity, touring with the Maori for their educational tour the following week in New Zealand.

The conference will be held on the traditional lands of the Kulin Nation, in Melbourne, from December 7th to 11th. It will be a celebration of our diverse cultures, traditions and knowledge.

So why did she decide to write?

“I wrote the essay because our language itself is symbolic to our nation, and that knowing our language and speaking it in another country would show that we still have our pride. We are really so proud of it, residential schools tried to ban our language, but they failed, and knowing that we survived through it keeps it and us alive, and it is still very strong. I would like to learn our language while we have our Elders, because we as youth need to realize we are losing our elders fast and need to take advantage of learning our language when we can. It’s so important.”

The World Indigenous Peoples Conference: Education (WIPC:E) is a triennial conference of international significance that attracts peoples from around the globe to celebrate and share diverse cultures, traditions and knowledge with a focus on world Indigenous education. The purpose of WIPC:E is to provide a forum to come together, share and learn and promote best practice in Indigenous education policies, programs and practice.

Oh, and she found out that she won while she was assisting to run another important conference in her community this past summer, Healing Our Spirits, that promoted health and wellness intersecting the importance of culture.

Wow.

Go Sonya go!

Proud and strong Carrier youth leader, Sonya Tamara May Patrick, standing ground on her traditional territory of Lake Babine.

A personal message straight from Stéphanie Piché, Planned Parenthood of Ottawa’s former Executive Director:

Dear Pro-choice community members,

It is with an immense pleasure that I am announcing the end of the law suit commenced by First Place Pregnancy Centre (FPPC) against Planned Parenthood Ottawa (PPO).

Last May, PPO, Heather Greenwood and I, Stéphanie Piché, received the official documentation informing us of the law suit, for defamation, from FPPC regarding comments publicly made by PPO regarding the Better Halves SENSational Tree Raffle in November 2007.

Following a public plea made to the pro-choice community, PPO received tremendous support from many individuals and organizations everywhere across the country. Thanks to your help and to your support, PPO was able to find an incredible lawyer, within two days, who understood the issue and knew how to defend our cause: Peter A. Downard from the firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP.

I am taking the time to write this short note to thank you all for your moral and social support. THANKS! I’m also taking this opportunity to inform you that the law suit FPPC vs. PPO has come to an agreement out of court which cannot be publicly commented.

Again, PPO, Heather Greenwood (former PPO employee) and I, would like to send you all of our recognition.

Sincerely,

Stéphanie Piché
PPO’s former Executive Director

Planned Parenthood of Ottawa’s community and members

I’m excited to share with you TWO events happening on October 7th where strong women from my community will be speaking on what strong woman-ness and Indigenous feminism (the first!) means to them.

Aboriginal Women Today: Revealing the Impacts of Colonization and Reclaiming Identities

The speaker, Dr. Cyndy Baskin, is of Mi’kmaq and Irish descent, and is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Ryerson University. Dr. Baskin will be talking about how Aboriginal women have been negatively affected by the historical process of colonization and its current impacts based on their race and sex.

Today, despite these ongoing impacts, Aboriginal women are taking the lead in reclaiming their identities, creating social justice movements and holistically healing themselves, their families and their communities.

When: Tuesday, October 7th 2008
Time: 5:30 - 7 p.m.
Where: CAMH Russell Street Site, 33 Russell Street, 2nd Floor Meeting Centre, Room 2029

Towards a Global Feminism

Lee Maracle, of Salish and Cree ancestry, a member of the Stó:lõ Nation, was born in North Vancouver, B.C. in 1950. She is the mother of four and grandmother of four and was one of the first Aboriginal people to be published in the early 1970s.

The author of a number of critically acclaimed literary works including: Sojourner’s and Sundogs, Ravensong, Bobbi Lee, Daughters Are Forever, Will’s Garden, Bent Box, I Am Woman, she is also the co-editor of a number of anthologies including the award winning publication, My Home As I Remember. She is a co-author of Telling It: Women and Language Across Culture. Lee is widely published in anthologies and scholarly journals worldwide.

When: Tuesday, October 7th 2008
Time: 7pm
Where: Room 5-260, OISE/UFT (252 Bloor St. West)

I will not add anything to Pike’s awesome post on Take Back the Night this year, except to say again that women united will never be divided!

If you were ever a previous attendee, or maybe thinking of becoming a new one, we need you there with us each and every year, and there just isn’t too many times you can go. Because, let’s face it, violence against women affects us all, and we need to remember those who cannot physically be with us, but who are trying to take back their night, in their own way, on their own terms, every day.

Some photos from this year’s event to inspire YOU to keep Taking It Back!

Markings of what we stand for were written everywhere we marched

Taking it to the streets

Standing in solidarity with my sisters as as a proud Indigenous feminist

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In the last year the Conservative government brought forward a series of motions which aim to remove women’s reproductive freedom. In addition many members of the party have stated publicly that they intend on bringing similar bills forward after the election regardless of whether the party holds a majority or minority government, or opposition role. One such bill (C484-Unborn Victims of Crime) easily passed 2/3 votes in parliament and was likely to pass the third and final vote with support from both the government, and opposition parties. All this despite the fact that the majority of Canadian’s support a woman’s right to choose!

Sunday’s Pan-Canadian day of action is about demanding our parliament listen to the pro-choice voices of Canadians, demanding our parliament get serious about ending violence against women, and stop playing with womens rights!

Toronto Rally for Choice!
Where: Bloor Parkette (southeast corner of Spadina and Bloor)
When: Sunday, September 28th
Time: 12pm

For information on actions happening in other cities (including Ottawa, Vancouver, and Montreal) check out the events calendar of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada.

Myself and a volunteer on the streets during the 2006 South Dakota campaign to repeal the abortion ban.

Okay, so we’ve heard lots about how anti-choice the state of South Dakota is, how even though there is only one abortion provider in the entire state (in Sioux Falls, which is not even the capital), or how the place statistically has one of the lowest rates of abortion in the whole country, the move to ban all abortions is once again upon us for the upcoming US election ballot.

Oh sure, they’ve included a specific clause for rape, but you can sure as hell bet that if you are a physician, you aren’t exactly going to be working under the most conducive conditions in which to do your job properly and refer a woman for an abortion if she chooses. And then there’s that tricky bit of proving that you were raped.

Angry? So am I.

If you are in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area or have the means to get there, join my colleagues at the American Civil Liberties Union on October 3rd as they campaign across Sioux Falls to protect reproductive freedom and say NO to the attack on choice. Travel to and from Minnesota, as well as meals and accomodation will be provided.

Don’t worry if you are not able to get to Minnesota, there are other ways to help from wherever you are that I’ll be posting later.

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It’s Sacred Sex Week at Good For Her!

Discover the multiple ways you can integrate your spiritual side with your sexy self to maximize your erotic potential.

All workshops are for everyone regardless of gender, sex, sexual orientation or partner status, unless otherwise specified.

I’m kicking it off tonight with Aboriginal Pleasure, Power, and Sex Positivity, beginning at 7pm.

Pre-registration is required for all events except Reclaiming Eros book launch on Thursday, September 25. Visit the website to sign up or call 416-588-0900.

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